Schools

Mount Madonna School (MMS) is pleased to announce Preethi Balagani and Talia Speaker as the 2014 senior class co-valedictorians and Roger Hooker as salutatorian. These three students earned these distinctions through hard work and focused effort, edging out their peers at the small Central Coast school known for strong academics, environmental education, performing arts and a competitive volleyball program. The 2014 high school graduation ceremony will commence at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 12 at the school’s upper campus.

GILROY

Remember that feeling heading into your first job interview? The panic? Dread? The confusion and uncertainty? Did you have any idea what you were doing? If so, you’re like millions of Americans who stumble into job interviews. To help prepare for this critical skill, the...

As if their 926 Academic Performing Index Score doesn't already merit bragging rights (California's benchmark is 800), four students in the Dr. TJ Owens Early College Academy - an alternative high school known as GECA located on the campus of Gavilan College at 5055 Santa Teresa Blvd - schooled the SAT.

Selecting students for the Gilroy Dispatch’s annual senior spotlight honor is no enviable task. That’s why we make the principals do it (and they resent us for making them narrow it down!). These students have navigated the labyrinth of high school hurdles, and we are inspired by their optimistic outlook, refreshing attitudes and heartfelt honesty. We celebrate them, their families, their mentors and all the graduating seniors in the class of 2014.

A popular “gem” of a program that’s turned hundreds of elementary students into budding violinists for the past 13 years is threatened with a $17,000 budget cut that could slice the program in half.

What are your plans after high school?

Three seats on the Gavilan College Board of Trustees are up for grabs in the November election, one each in the Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Benito County areas.

Ashley Tangeman won the Gilroy Sunrise Rotary Club speech competition Jan. 15. She will advance to the Area 6 competition Jan. 24 hosted by the Almaden Valley Rotary Club at Boulder Ridge Golf Club.

Two Gilroy schools were recently given the honorable privilege of being named a California Distinguished School for their “strong commitment and innovative approaches to improving student academic achievement,” according to a press release from the California Department of Education.